Alcohol beverage brands stand out with data-driven experiences
Dante Maciel of Transformative Marketing Services talks leveraging insights to win in a crowded market.
Transformative Marketing Services delivers customized, nationwide experiential solutions for alcohol beverage and consumer packaged goods brands like The Bardstown Bourbon Company, Green River Distilling, and Celaya Tequila.
We sat down with Transformative Marketing Services’ Head of Operations Dante Maciel recently to discuss how the alcohol beverage industry is changing, the hands-on approach to data that brands are taking, and how MainEvent helps tie everything together.
In a crowded market, data is the edge
“Our clients are pushing us really hard to deliver more data, more metrics, and more actionable insights to help grow their business, and MainEvent helps us do that.”
Dante Maciel, Head of Operations
“In the last five to ten years, the alcohol beverage industry has changed a ton,” Dante explains. “Whether it’s distributor consolidation, the rise of premium craft spirits, or unique flavor innovations, there are countless options for the consumer.”
“The way brands are separating themselves from the pack is that they’re really looking so much harder at the data than they used to.”
“Brands want to see the numbers for themselves - even the local sales and field teams want to log into MainEvent and see what’s happening in their own markets in real time,” Dante notes.
To satisfy clients’ growing appetite for data, Dante and his team are now leveraging MainEvent Agents, which turn natural language queries into impactful analysis.
The importance of real experiences
“What we’re seeing with younger consumers is that they’re craving more real experiences, one-on-one engagement with people, and that really ties into our industry - because the way that you build a brand is with people, feet on the street,” Dante says.
“Most people aren’t going to buy a $50 or $60 bottle of bourbon from a website after reading or watching a video about it,” he explains. “But if they walk into a store, or they’re at an event, and a real person talks to them even just for 30 seconds about the merits of this brand or this product that they’ve never even heard of, there’s a much greater chance they’re going to walk out of that store with that bottle.”
Lofted Spirits’ national sampling push
Dante’s team is currently working with Lofted Spirits, which owns Bardstown Bourbon Company and Green River Whiskey. “We’re primarily focused on off-premise, national chain accounts across the country,” Dante says. “Wherever they have distribution - we’re helping to amplify that and foster relationships.”
“We’re scaling that out nationally to nearly every state and thousands of sampling events by the end of the year, and we’re tracking it all in MainEvent.”
Want tailored software and AI-powered analytics for your sampling programs? Experience MainEvent for yourself.